Though windows 8 knocked out all other operating systems released along with, It has some flaws that a normal windows user would hate to have. Here are those,
1. Avoiding the Start Screen
No matter how many Start screen–avoiding tactics you may employ, you’ll still find yourself tossed back onto the Start screen when you do any of the following things:
✓ Add user accounts. The desktop’s Control Panel lets you manage a user account. You can toggle a user account between Standard and Administrator, change its name, and even delete it completely. But if you need to add a user account — or even change your own account’s picture — you’re dropped off at the Start screen’s PC Settings screen to finish the job.
✓ Play a music file or view a photo. Windows 8 sets itself up to use the Start screen’s Music and Photos apps. Open one photo or MP3 file on the desktop, and you’ll find yourself back in Start screen land.
✓ Troubleshoot. Although the Start screen specializes in rather anemic faire, it also contains two of the most powerful troubleshooting tools in Windows 8: Refresh and Remove Everything. These two tools offer last-ditch cure-alls for ailing computers. You won’t find any way to access these tools from the desktop, however.
2. Avoiding the Desktop
On a touchscreen tablet, it’s enticing to stay on the Start screen with its finger-sized tiles and easy-to-touch icons. Smartphone owners have enjoyed the app lifestyle for years.
But staying nestled within the Start screen’s world of apps can be more difficult than it appears. No matter how hard you try to avoid the desktop and its pin-sized controls, you’ll find yourself dragged there when you do any of the following things from the Start screen:
✓ Click the Desktop tile. This app brings you straight to the desktop zone. To hide this tile or any other Start screen tile, right-click the unwanted app to reveal the App bar and then click the Unpin from Start icon.
✓ Browse files. The Start screen isn’t sophisticated enough to browse your files. As soon as you plug in a flash drive or portable hard drive, the desktop’s File Explorer leaps onscreen to handle the job.
✓ Manage a user account. You can create new accounts from the Start screen, but to delete or change an existing account, you need the desktop’s Control Panel.
✓ Watch Flash videos. The Start screen’s version of Internet Explorer handles most websites well. But on some websites, it can’t play videos that employ Adobe Flash technology. When a video won’t play, right-click a blank part of the website to reveal the App bar. Then click the Page Tool icon (wrench inside a circle), and choose View on the Desktop. The desktop’s Internet Explorer jumps in to finish the task.
✓ Manage gadgetry. The Start screen’s PC Settings screen lists all the devices connected to your computer, from printers to mice to portable hard drives. But it shows only their names; to change the settings of any of those devices requires a trip to the desktop’s Control Panel.
✓ Manage files. You can access your photos and music files from the Start screen’s Photos and Music apps, respectively. But changing those files in any way — renaming a file or folder, perhaps — requires a trip to the desktop. You’ll find yourself there when looking for the date you snapped a photo, as well.
In short, the Start screen works well for most simple computing tasks. But when it comes to fine-tuning your computer’s settings, performing maintenance work, or even browsing files, you’ll find yourself returning to the desktop.
3. Can’t Copy Music to iPod
You won’t find the word iPod mentioned in the Windows 8 menus, help screens, or even in the Help areas of Microsoft’s website. That’s because Microsoft’s competitor, Apple, makes the tremendously popular iPod. Microsoft’s strategy is to ignore the little gizmo in the hope that it will go away. What won’t go away, though, are the problems you’ll face if you ever try to copy songs onto an iPod with Media Player. You face two hurdles:
✓ Windows Media Player won’t recognize your iPod, much less send it any songs or videos.
✓ When you plug in your iPod, Windows might recognize the slick gadget as a portable hard drive. It may even let you copy songs to it. But your iPod won’t be able to find or play them. The easiest solution is to download and install iTunes software from Apple’s website (www.apple.com/ itunes). Because iTunes and Media Player will bicker over which program can play your files, you’ll probably end up choosing iTunes.
4. Always Have to be Signed In
The power-conscious Windows 8 normally blanks your screen when you haven’t touched a key for a few minutes. And, when you belatedly press a key to bring the screen back to life, you’re faced with the lock screen.
To move past the lock screen, you need to type your password to sign back in to your account.
Some people prefer that extra level of security. If the lock screen kicks in while you’re spending too much time at the water cooler, you’re protected: Nobody can walk over and snoop through your e-mail. Other people don’t need that extra security, and they simply want to return to work quickly.
If you don’t ever want to see the lock screen, use a single user account without a password. That defeats all the security offered by the user account system, but it’s more convenient if you live alone.
To keep Windows from asking for a password whenever it wakes back up, follow these steps:
2. From the Control Panel, click System and Security and then click Power Options.
3. From the screen’s left edge, click Require a Password on Wakeup. When the window appears, most of the options are grayed out — inaccessible.
4. Select the option labeled Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable.
5. Select the Don’t Require a Password option and then click the Save Changes button.
That leaves you with a more easy-going Windows. When your computer wakes up from sleep, you’re left at the same place where you stopped working, and you don’t have to enter your password anymore. Unfortunately, it also leaves you with a less-secure Windows. Anybody who walks by your computer will have access to all your files.
To return to the safer-but-less-friendly Windows, follow these same steps, but in Step 5, select the Require a Password (Recommended) option. Then click the Save Changes button.
5. Taskbar Keeps Disappearing
If your taskbar suddenly clings to the side of the screen instead of where it usually squats along the bottom of the desktop, try dragging it back in place: Instead of dragging an edge, drag the entire taskbar from its middle. As your mouse pointer reaches your desktop’s bottom edge, the taskbar suddenly snaps back into place. Let go of the mouse, and you’ve recaptured it.
Follow these tips to prevent your taskbar from wandering:
✓ To keep the taskbar locked into place so that it won’t float away, right-click a blank part of the taskbar and select Lock the Taskbar. Remember, though, that before you can make any future changes to the taskbar, you must first unlock it.
✓ If your taskbar drops from sight whenever the mouse pointer doesn’t hover nearby, turn off the taskbar’s Auto Hide feature: Right-click a blank part of the taskbar and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. When the Taskbar Properties dialog box appears, deselect the Auto-Hide the Taskbar check box. (Or, to turn on the Auto Hide feature, select the check box.)
6. Can’t Keep Track of Open Windows
You don’t have to keep track of all those open windows. Windows 8 does it for you with a secret key combination: Hold the Alt key and press the Tab key, and a little bar appears, displaying the icons for all your open windows. Keep pressing Tab; when Windows highlights the icon of the window you’re after, release the keys. The window pops up.
Or visit the taskbar, that long strip along the bottom of your screen. The taskbar lists the name of every open window. Click the name of the window you want, and that window hops to the top of the pile. If a program icon on the taskbar contains several open windows — you’re simultaneously editing several documents in Microsoft Word, for example — right-click the Microsoft Word icon. A pop-up menu appears, letting
you click the document you want to access. Can’t find a previously opened Start screen app? Hold down the key and press the Tab key: Thumbnail images of all your open apps appear on a strip along the screen’s left edge. Keep pressing the Tab key until you’ve highlighted the desired app; let go of the Tab key, and the selected app fills the screen.
7. Can’t Line Up Two Windows on the Screen
With its arsenal of dragging-and-dropping tools,Windows simplifies grabbing information from one window and copying it to another. You can drag an address from an address book and drop it atop a letter in your word processor, for example. However, the hardest part of dragging and dropping comes when you’re lining up two windows on the screen, side by side, for dragging. Windows 8 offers an easy way to align windows for easy dragging and dropping:
1. Drag one window against a left or right edge.
When your mouse pointer touches the screen’s edge, the window reshapes itself to fill half the screen.
2. Drag the other window against the opposite edge.
When your mouse pointer reaches the opposite edge, the two windows are aligned side by side. You can also minimize all the windows except for the two you want to align side by side. Then right-click a blank spot on the taskbar, and then choose Show Windows Side By Side. The two windows line up on the screen perfectly.
You can also minimize all the windows except for the two you want to align side by side. Then right-click a blank spot on the taskbar, and then choose Show Windows Side By Side. The two windows line up on the screen perfectly.
8. It Won’t Let You Do Something Unless You are an Administrator
Windows 8 gets really picky about who gets to do what on your computer. The computer’s owner gets the Administrator account. And the administrator usually gives everybody else a Standard account. What does that mean? Well, only the administrator can do the following things on the computer:
✓ Install programs and hardware.
✓ Create or change accounts for other people.
✓ Start an Internet connection.
✓ Install some hardware, such as digital cameras and MP3 players.
✓ Perform actions affecting other people on the PC. People with Standard accounts, by nature, are limited to fairly basic activities. They can do these things:
✓ Run previously installed programs.
✓ Change their account’s picture and password.
Guest accounts are meant for the babysitter or visitors who don’t permanently use the computer. If you have a broadband or other “always on” Internet account, guests can browse the Internet, run programs, or check their e-mail. (Guest accounts aren’t allowed to start an Internet session, but they can use an existing one.) If Windows says only an administrator may do something on your PC, you have two choices: Find an administrator to type his or her password and authorize the action; or convince an administrator to upgrade your account to an Administrator account.
9. You Don’t Know What Version of Windows You Have
To find out what version of Windows is installed on your computer, right-click in the bottom-left corner of any screen. When the pop-up menu appears, choose System. When the System window appears, look near the top to see which version of Windows 8 you own: Windows 8 (for consumers), Windows Pro (for small businesses), Enterprise (for large businesses), or Windows RT.
10. Print Screen Key Doesn’t Work
Contrary to its name, the Print Screen key doesn’t shuttle a picture of your screen to your printer. Instead, the Print Screen key (usually labeled PrintScreen, PrtScr, or PrtSc) sends the screen’s picture to the Windows 8 memory. From there, you can paste it into a graphics program, such as Paint, letting the graphics program send the picture to the printer.
Windows 8 introduces something new, though: If you want to capture an image of the entire screen and save it as a file, press Windows+PrtScr.
That tells Windows to snap a picture of your current screen and save it in your Pictures library with the name Screenshot. (Windows saves those images in the PNG format, if you’re interested, and it captures your mouse pointer, as well.) Subsequent screenshots include a number after the name.
When saved, your screenshot can head for your printer when you right-click the file and choose Print from the pop-up menu.
There are more changes windows 8 has. We’ll be customized using it day-by-day!
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